Dozens of detainees at the Unites States prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have given up their hunger strike except 18 who still refuse to eat, the U.S. military said Sunday.

"The number of hunger strikers has fallen sharply in recent days, from a peak of 89 on June 1 to 18 today," Joint Task Force Guantanamo said in a statement.

"The hunger strike technique is consistent with al-Qaida practice and reflects detainee attempts to elicit media attention to bring international pressure on the United States to release them," said the statement.

The statement issued from the U.S. naval base also said that four detainees are currently being force-fed. Two of them started their protest on Aug. 8, 2005 and the other two on May 29 of this year.

Another prisoner who had refused to eat since Aug. 8, 2005 resumed eating, although he is still classified as a hunger striker, it said.

U.S. officials said the force-feeding is conducted through a tube inserted in the nose.

Reports said the force-feeding method, in which the inmate is strapped into a restraint chair, was launched after a major hunger strike last year involving 131 detainees.

But defense lawyers and human rights groups have condemned the practice as cruel and accused the medical doctors involved of violating their professional ethics.

Among the some 460 prisoners held in Guantanamo as "enemy combatants," only 10 have been formally charged as terror suspects since the camp opened after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Many in the international community, including the United Nations and U.S. allies, have been urging the United States to close the prison for the concerns of the conditions of the detainees.

Source: Xinhua